A 'GOOD LIFE' family's dream home sank before their very eyes.

Terry and Janet Whitfield's newly-built £120,000 house is being swallowed-up by the bogland of Astley Moss - so this week workmen began building them an identical home just a few feet away!

When the Whitfields opted for life off the beaten track they never realised how quickly it could all turn sour.

They bought their two-acre Rose Farm smallholding in Spring 1997 and lived in the original asbestos clad, timber-framed bungalow while contractors set to building their new nine-room, brick-built home a few yards away.

Two Christmases ago they moved in. But within 12 months their world was in turmoil.

Terry, who runs Whitfield Services plumbing business, recalls the nightmare feeling of when their home began to slip away. "We could actually feel the building move," he said.

"Bricks were snapping, huge cracks appeared in the walls and plaster started falling off. It was like an earthquake. I expected everything to crumble around us."

Insurers and civil engineers were called and for the past nine months Terry and Janet, 39, and their children, 10-year-old Matthew and two-year-old Rosie have been living in a caravan on their land, watching helpless as their house sinks.

Terry estimates the building is now five feet lower than it was when built and it is currently part submerged in three feet of water and teetering at an angle.

He said: "It is really nerve-wracking to think what might have happened. Somebody could have been killed.

"Before the foundations were laid and the house was built full drilling surveys were made and 22 x 150mm concrete piles were sunk to a depth of 14.7metres by Bullivants - nationally acclaimed civil engineers.

"Obviously, the experts believed everything was okay.

"Now the new house is being built on 12' steel concrete filled piles driven in from the tip to a depth of 16 metres. So far the piling has cost over £20,000; fortunately, insurers have paid for everything.

"After what happened I still have my doubts, but we love it down here. We like the peace and quiet and hopefully by Springtime our new home will be ready and we can start to enjoy life."

The soft peat moss posed similar problems for railway pioneer George Stephenson when he laid the first inter-city line between Manchester and Liverpool across the Moss in 1830.

His railway - which was built upon a foundation which included felled trees and cotton bales - runs a quarter of a mile to the north of the Whitfield's homestead.

David Colven, Group Risks Manager for Roger Bullivant, said: "It is incredible.

"We have not seen a property move so much in such a short time. There has been a dramatic settlement of the foundations - something like 900 millimetres.

"The matter is now with insurers and engineers."

Mr Colven said Bullivants were contracted to put piles in the ground and leading consulting engineers Clancys were investigating and their findings are awaited.

The family (Terry and Janet Whitfield with Matthew and Rosie) are pictured outside their sinking home.

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